Fado's Lie
by ZeldaFalda11
Summary: Fado from OoT meets a stranger out in the Lost Woods. She doesn't like strangers in the woods though, and tries to get rid of him. One-shot.


"What are you doing here, mister?" Fado asked the stranger sitting in front of her. Her fairy floated over the top of her head, illuminating the man's pale skin.

"Leave me alone," he muttered, keeping his head down. He wanted no part in whatever conversation this little girl wanted to start. _Disgusting_ , he thought. _All of them. Every last living thing in the world is disgusting_! Except, of course, his little Cojiro. He was the only beautiful thing in the world to him, with his blue feathers, clucking beside him.

Fado felt annoyed, but tried not to let it show. "Mister, you shouldn't be here in the woods!" The man raised his head up and only looked at her, no change in his melancholy expression. _I see_ , she thought. _I'll have to try harder to make him leave_. Fado had done this before. People sometimes came to the Lost Woods for one reason or another, adventure or escapism being the most common reasons. She knew how to get rid of this man.

"Mister," she started, "what do you know about the Lost Woods?"

"Please, just leave me be," he replied.

Fado didn't move, and kept smiling as best she could, hands behind her back. "Please, mister, what do you know about this place?" He thought for a few seconds, trying to remember everything that people have said about the Lost Woods. He remembered being told of stories about this place as a child, stories such as that there were monsters and witches in the woods, and that children should never wander into the area. All lies, of course; only the Kokiri and their fairies actually inhabited the woods. Those lies were just a couple of the many lies that people tell to each other, and another justification for him to find people disgusting. He had never actually gone deeper into the woods, himself. He only stayed near the entrance, but logically, any monsters inhabiting the woods would take over and run the Kokiri out by now, right? The Kokiri never demonstrated any real fighting skills, to his knowledge. Except for that one blonde Kokiri boy he met years ago, but they couldn't…

After a few seconds of thinking, he finally said, "I know that the Kokiri inhabit this place and that this is their home. I know of a few folklore about this place, too, but that's really it."

"Like what?" she asked, remaining in her innocent stance, trying to be unassuming.

"Witches, stalfoses, werewolves, and some other monsters inhabit the woods."

"Uh-huh," she still smiled, "would you believe me if I said that those things were true?"

"Wh-what?"

She giggled. "They're all true."

His melancholy expression darkened, "You're lying. You're just trying to scare me out of the woods. You're just like all the rest of the people in Kakariko Village." He looked down again, pressing his hands to his ears. "You lie! You're just as disgusting as the rest of them!"

Fado didn't flinch. "Have you ever wondered how the Kokiri live in the woods even with these monsters here?"

The man paused for a few seconds. He did wonder. That's why he didn't believe in the folklore. It made no sense. "How?"

"The Great Deku tree protects us with his magic," she replied. "He assigns us all fairies to guard us from whatever evil comes here. All those monsters in the folklore are real, and they stay away from this area because we're here." Her fairy began flittering around her head. "Didn't you also mention the stalfos, mister?"

"Yes," he answered. He remembered seeing pictures of them in a book years ago that Dampé used to own, when he would spend some of his nights in the graveyard. They were skeleton creatures who wielded swords and shields. The book said that it was unknown as to how the stalfos originally came to be, and how they seem to continue existing.

"You know," Fado started, "stalfoses come from these woods here. They're corpses of dead people, sort of. You know why they exist?"

"Why?"

"There's a spell cast here in the Lost Woods, by witches who used to live here." Fado sat down in front of the man. "They have a mansion deep inside the woods, and they wanted to keep trespassers out, so they put a spell on these woods. Anyone who enters these woods and does not know the way out will turn into a stalfos, a skeleton warrior meant to serve the witches. We Kokiri have been assigned fairies that know the entire way through the woods, so we don't get lost. That's why Kokiri never turn into stalfoses."

The man looked even more grave than he did before. Was it yet another lie? Her constant smiling and calm, almost happy voice telling him this was beginning to become unnerving. He didn't know whether to believe her or not. Cojiro kept making noises beside him as he stayed silent. He almost considered leaving due to the creepy atmosphere of it all. But what about that nice guy heading to the potion shop for him? "Listen little girl, I have someone going to Kakariko village to get something for me and I can't just leave. I need to wait here."

"What's he getting for you?" she asked happily

"Some medicine for me. I came here to the forest to get the ingredients for it actually."

She became curious. "What ingredients?"

"Forest mushrooms and stuff," he said.

Fado's brow furrowed. "Wait, you mean our sacred mushrooms?!" Of course an outsider would try and steal from the forest. But why did he need the medicine?

"U-um," he winced. He just wanted this to be over already. She stood up.

"Why do you need our mushrooms?!"

"I j-just… um," he paused, practically shrinking as he pushed back into the tree stump. He had no explanation to give that he wanted to give her. He was too afraid of her response to that. Besides, it wasn't anybody's business as to why he wanted the mushrooms.

"You know what? Just get out of here. You don't need to be here," she finally said. Her brow kept furrowing.

"B-but, that guy…"

"I'll tell him you left!" she snapped. She had no patience for this guy anymore. She just wanted him gone.

"U-um… ok. But give him this." He reached behind him and pulled out a saw.

Fado's eyes widened and she jumped back, "Whoa, what are you gonna do with that?"

"I wanted to give that nice guy this saw," he replied. "I don't have any money to pay him with, so I'm hoping he can sell this for a good price."

 _He's paying him?_ she thought. _Good grief._ "Put it on the ground," she commanded. He did so, and looked back at her. She pointed to her left, "see that tunnel?" He looked to where she was pointed. "That'll lead you out of the woods. Leave. Now." He stood up, turned to the tunnel, and left, bringing his blue cuckoo with him. She followed him went he couldn't be seen anymore to make sure that he left. Sure enough, he was gone. She turned around, walked over to the saw and picked it up. It was heavy. She dragged and laid it against the tree stump. _I need to get those mushrooms back_ , she thought. She stood right where that guy sat before and tried to regain her calm demeanor. That guy could be here any minute.

Fado waited for only a few more minutes before the man's friend showed up. He was another Hylian, with blonde hair and wearing a green tunic. _Ah, yeah. I remember him_ , she thought. This guy came around the Kokiri forest recently, right before the Great Deku Sprout had been planted. Some of the Kokiri, herself included, have said that he looked familiar too. She pushed any of those thoughts away, however, when he approached her. She made sure to smile again.

"Hey, you there!" the blonde boy said. "Have you seen a man here? A really pale man."

"That guy isn't here anymore," she replied.

"Oh," he paused. "Do you know where he went?"

She shook her head. "Nope, he just left. The sounds here might have scared him off."

Link paused for a second. Was she seriously doing this with him right now? He played along with the little girl, "What sounds?"

"The sounds of monsters in the woods. They must have scared him off, made him run away. He's probably lost by now."

"Lost, huh?" Link asked, letting out skepticism in his voice.

Fado paused for a split second. She noticed his tone, but kept her composure. "Yep, anybody who comes into the forest will be lost," she said. "He'll become a Stalfos now."

"Ah, yeah, I heard about that. I thought it was only a rumor," he said.

She shook her head. "Nope. Everybody will become a Stalfos. If you get lost here in the woods, you'll become a Stalfos. Everybody, Stalfos."

"I see."

She giggled. "Yep. So, he's not here anymore."

Link sighed. _Well I might as well give the stuff to Fado. She might find some use for it._ "Well, that's too bad," he said, "because I meant to bring him something." He reached into his pocket.

"What?" she asked, as unassuming as possible. He pulled something out of his pocket. It was the medicine that guy was talking about.

Fado's eyes widened. "That medicine is made out of forest mushrooms!" She reached up to him. "Give it back!" He gave the medicine to her. She turned around, dragged the saw forward, and said, "Here, you can have this in return."

Link grabbed onto the hilt of it and raised an eyebrow. "Where did you find this?"

"That guy left it here," she said, without thinking.

"How do you know it was his?" he asked.

"He… left it here. I assume it's for you," she answered, avoiding the question, with her chest tightening. She didn't want her story to be inconsistent.

"Why would he leave it here?"

She was beginning to lose patience again. "I don't know, but take it! Maybe you could sell it or something."

Link decided to let it go and took the saw. "Alright, I'll be seeing you then."

 _Hopefully not._ She thought. She then said, "Are you gonna turn into… one of them, too?" She giggled.

He almost burst out into laughter at that. _Stop trying to be creepy, Fado, it's not working,_ he thought. "Hopefully not, but I'm gonna leave now. Bye."

She smiled and said, "Leave that way," as she pointed to the same tunnel that other guy went through. "It'll take you directly out."

"Thanks," he said. Link turned to the tunnel and headed out of the woods after he was done speaking with her. He smirked though, remembering how she loved to tell this little fib to strange visitors of the Lost Woods. She never liked outsiders coming to the woods. He could have just left it there and not try to call out her bluff, but it was too tempting for him. She told that lie so sloppily this time. He couldn't believe that he actually had her scare tactics used on him. They of course didn't work, though. He knew better than to believe her.


End file.
